U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement applauding the Biden administration’s filing to review federal documents related to 9-11:
“I applaud President Biden’s commitment to transparency and welcome a fresh review of documents related to federal investigations of 9-11. While the pain of waiting for clear answers twenty years after the horrific 9-11 terrorist attacks cannot be diminished, this is an important step forward to help secure justice and accountability for survivors and families. For decades, 9-11 survivors and families have fought tirelessly to identify all the perpetrators of this attack and hold them accountable. It’s time we do right by them. I will continue working with my colleagues Senators Menendez and Blumenthal to pass our bipartisan September 11 Transparency Act of 2021 to improve government transparency.”
Gillibrand recently introduced the bipartisan September 11 Transparency Act of 2021 with Senators Schumer (D-NY), Menendez (D-NJ), Blumenthal (D-CT), Booker (D-NJ), and Murphy (D-CT) to improve governmental transparency regarding 9-11 investigations. The September 11 Transparency Act of 2021 will require the DOJ, the CIA, and the DNI to consider declassifying key documents related to the federal 9-11 investigations. The bill doesn’t require the agencies to declassify any specific documents, but the agencies must complete declassification reviews through their appropriate existing processes.
The DOJ, CIA, and DNI must provide Congress with justification if they decide not to declassify a document or record. The bill is modeled on the declassification review of the Bin Laden raid that Congress passed in 2014.